Psychiatric Illnesses Program

PSYCHIATRIC ILLNESSES PROGRAM

Mental illnesses are the most disabling diseases.Apart from the patient they also burden the care givers and the immediate family members.Gradual down spiral of chronic illnesses leave the patient dysfunctional and the caregivers helpless.

The stigma related to the mental illness , delay in medical help can further worsen the course of illness.

Patient denying illness or any abnormal behavior, unwillingness to accept help (absence of insight);harm to self or harm to others becomes the major hurdle in treatment.

Lack of skills to handle such critical situations, inadequate knowledge of the nature of illness ,lack of facilities in the vicinity to treat the illness are the concerns of the family.

Management of a patient with mental illness can be divided into

Acute phase treatment

Maintenance

Long term management

ACUTE PHASE TREATMENT

Major modality of treatment is medications, education of family members about illness and supportive care.
This is planned preferably in an inpatient setup.Requires continuous supervision

MAINTAINANCE :

Continuing medications and working towards complete functional recovery.
Problems during this phase include relapse of symptoms, stopping medications, poor support and difficulty in daily activities.
Can be planned on an outpatient basis with adequate support or in a rehabilitation centre